Vampire Darling
by MyNameIsAzazel
Summary: This story takes place in a sort of medieval setting. Kyon is the son of the village priest and has a been warned of a monster that lurks in the darkness of the surrounding forest... though after years of thinking it was just a myth, he learns the hard way that anything is possible. Rated T
1. Prologue

A/N: This story takes place in a sort of medieval setting. Kyon is the son of the village priest and has a been warned of a monster that lurks in the darkness of the surrounding forest... though after years of thinking it was just a myth, he learns the hard way that anything is possible.

My village was a small and peaceful place. Everybody knew each other and we all got along, making the place naturally comforting and every new comer was instantly welcomed in the traditional fashion.

There were only a few buildings. A bakery, slaughter house, church, farm house, stables, blacksmith, carpenters and about ten or eleven homes around. It was a small village, but it just helped the friendly atmosphere.

I stepped outside of the village church on the morning of a bright summer day, inhaling the fresh air surrounding me. I could already see people awake and working. Smoke was arising from the bakery's chimney and the farm animals had been let into their outside pen for the morning. Seeing the pigs, sheep and cows all in their enclosed area made me smile, not only because we were doing well on many resources, but if the animals were out, then the farm boy was also at work. When I couldn't see him amongst the animals, I looked towards the village centre, where the water well stood, and there I saw him. My best friend. Itsuki Koizumi.

"Hey! Good morning." I yelled to him.

He turned my way and smiled when he saw that it was me.

"Hello there Kyon." He greeted me with a smile and a wave as he placed a wooden bucket on the bricks of the well.

"Animals are looking very well recently." I smiled. "You're doing a very good job."

"Well, keeping them in good health is something that the village people rely on. I couldn't let anybody down."

Koizumi was very selfless. He was the same age as me, but he always seemed to be able to stay on top of everything, unlike myself. I was a bit unreliable admittedly, but just because I'm the priest's son, doesn't mean I wish to be one myself.

Koizumi was a little taller than me too. He was pale and always had a smile on his face, accompanied by big, deep brown eyes. That and his hair that looked as soft as it was made him a fairly attractive guy, despite the fact that he was always with the village animals.

I was suddenly disturbed by the sound of my father calling for me to come back inside to pray. I had been trying to avoid it so badly today.

"Well, I'll see ya around." I waved and turned to go back inside.

"You too." Koizumi smiled and got back on with collecting water.

My family was always warning me of a beast that resides within the forest that surrounded our peaceful village. The very idea of something like a monster struck fear in everyone's hearts, but by this point, we had never been visited by such a thing, so nobody believed it anymore. Yet still, my family never let go of the idea, even if it meant terrorising my younger sister, they'd constantly tell the story of the monster from the woods. I didn't care. Though that night, I found out why I shouldn't have ruled out such a possibility despite never searching for this _thing_ myself. That was the night, my life took a drastic turn for the worst.

It was long after dark when the young girl screamed. I was awake within a few seconds and running downstairs, my father staring at me as if I was mad. I ran out of the doors of the church and saw the little girl running towards me.

"Help me!" She yelled. "It's the monster from the forest!"

I looked up, my eyes wide and saw what she was talking about. A tall figure appeared to be jumping from roof to roof. The whole village was eventually awake and in the village centre.

"Haaaah!" I heard from behind me. The crowd turned to face where the scream had come from and saw the body of an elderly man, collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from two marks in his neck.

I remembered legends of a creature that left its victims in such a state. A vampire.

One of the houses was suddenly set ablaze and we realised that our attacker was just as the legends described. Fast, frightening and dangerous. Everybody was panicked and running around, praying that they would not be taken next. All I could do was stand in place, too shocked to move as the villagers were attacked, terrorised and had their homes destroyed. I couldn't do anything... until I heard another scream, unlike the others that I had heard that night. I recognised the voice... the farmboy... my best friend.

I spun around, "Koizu-" I stopped, eyes widening as I was forced to just stand in place once again.

The vampire had a strong grip on him and had already sank his fangs deep beneath the skin on Koizumi's neck. Blood ran down his chest and his eyelids flickered as he grew paler than before.

"NO!" I screamed, clearly getting the vampires attention.

 _It_ looked at me, a wide and twisted smile appearing on his face as he saw my look of horror... and the eyes. The Crimson fire that I saw within the eyes of this creature was enough to make me lose it, however it only got worse from there.

It forced its fangs deeper and deeper until suddenly removing them from my friends body. Holding the almost limp Koizumi by the collar of his clothes, he threw him over to me. My legs finally began to move and I ran forwards as fast as I could to catch his falling figure. As I reached out, I caught his light body.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Hey, can you hear me?"

He didn't respond to me. He lay still in my arms, shaking, blood pouring out of his neck and his eyes half open.

"HEY!" I yelled a little louder, shaking him, trying desperately to get him to respond. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as the rest of the world began to disappear.

Without a word, he looked straight at me and continued to lie still, as if he was waiting for something to happen. He had given up.

"No Koizumi!" I called.

Screaming didn't do anything for him. Right there, in my arms, his breathing ceased and his eyes closed fully. He was gone.

I snapped back into reality and the surrounding chaos began to reappear. From a short distance, I heard my father yelling the end of a holy chant.

"Be gone fowl beast!"

The screams of the town eventually stopped. My guess was that the vampire has gotten away. But at that time, my mind was only set on the one that I held in my arms. My best friend had been killed in front of me. I just stared down at his lifeless face, the usual rays of life and happiness that he used to produce were completely gone. Gone with him.

A young girl from the village approached me from behind, placing her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I couldn't take it anymore. My reality was shattered by the events of that night and I couldn't take it. The sadness and anger built up inside me and I couldn't hold onto it. I threw my head back, letting my tears flow, and screamed in sorrow.

End of Prologue...

 **A/N: WOO! This has been in my head for quite a while and I really wanted to get it out and written down. I'm sorry for killing someone off in the first chapter, but things will get somewhat better... but will it last forever? I'm not gonna tell ya! Thanks for reading folks ^^ I'll write more whenever I can.**


	2. The Autumn Path

It was late on an Autumn evening. I held a bag in my hand as I threw my usual supplies inside. Since that day three years ago, the town had lived in fear and I had made it my mission to find and finish off the vampire that had attacked... and my friend.

I had been ripped away from him after my father had calmed down the rest of the villagers so that he could get the bodies of all that had died and give them a proper burial each. But that night, before the burials had even been prepared, Koizumi's body disappeared. It gave me hope that he was alive, though nobody believes me.

"You won't find him you know." I heard a voice from behind me.

I turned to see Haruhi Suzumiya. She was now a very close friend of mine as she had been one of... his. We only really began properly speaking after that night, but she was a relatively nice person, so we got along. Though she was one of the ones that unfortunately, didn't believe me when I insisted that our friend may still be alive.

Haruhi was the only other person that knew where I went every night. She was the only person I felt I could trust with the information.

I stared at her, not wanting to respond to what she had just said.

"Whether you find a mangled corpse or a half-buried skeleton, he'll still be dead. No amount of searching will change the fact that he's gone..."

"Don't you miss him Haruhi?" I sighed at her.

"Of course I do! Everybody does. He was a very kind person. I just think you need to accept the fact that we lost him years ago. He's dead."

"Like I told you, I have hope, but I'm not going to fool myself into thinking he's alive without finding any proof of it." I gave her I reassuring pat on the shoulder. Although she didn't believe me, i was okay with it. If anybody else said these things to me, I wouldn't know how to react.

"I'm just worried that you will eventually. That's how people go crazy Kyon."

"I'm not going crazy. After all, there's always my other motive." I gave her a smile and left the church on my way to the usual forest path.

Each and every night I take the same path, going slightly further into the forest than the night before. I never found anything that could point me in the direction of the vampire from that night, but there was something about the forest path that made me think things would be different tonight.

I stopped suddenly, feeling a strange feeling. The cold wind shook the trees and sent a chill down my spine. I spun around to look behind me, feeling as though somebody was there, but nobody was following me. I turned back around... and that when I saw it. A shadowed figure of a human being. I ducked behind a tree nearby, slowly and quietly making my way towards it. It didn't seem to be moving.

I was eventually close enough to see a person in all black clothing and a cloak with red lining. They just stared up at the sky and began to walk slowly forwards.

 _'Nobody dares enter the forest after that night...'_ I thought to myself. That's when it sunk in. I reached into my bag and pulled out a brass cross.

He was definitely a descendant of those hellish beings. My hatred for vampires boiled up inside of me once again, the rage and hatred that had made a home within my very being since the day my best friend was killed. I held nothing back.

I waited for that _thing_ to stop moving for at least a second as I held the brass cross close to my chest. Suddenly, I heard nothing. All movement from the beast had stopped. This was my chance. I jumped out from my place behind the tall oak and sprinted towards it. The vampire turned to look my way, but was shocked by the brass cross now directly under his chin. I was able to take a good look at him.

Alas, it was not the vampire that had terrorised the village all those years ago, but he was still one of that devilish race! He had to be killed! Though, I did notice that he appeared rather young. No older than me and had quite an attractive face. Was this the vampires charm I was warned about? They appear gorgeous to the average eye, maybe even to others of their kind. I noticed that, although he looked frightened, head tilted back and eyes shut tight, he looked familiar to me. Pale skin, slim but tall, rather thick lashes and soft-looking hair.

The cross slid out of my grip and fell to the ground as I took two steps backwards. My eyes were wide and mouth open, ready to speak, but struggling to start. In the end, I just watched. Watched as the one standing in front of me lowered his head and opened his eyes slowly. The moonlight reflected on them and the faint blue glow brought out the Crimson in his eyes. They were beautiful, large and enticing. Even with the slight difference, I knew...

He seemed to look at me with an apologetic expression. He appeared depressed and I felt as though I didn't have to openly display my shock anymore. My eyes narrowed and I closed my mouth. Just as I did so, the young (presumably) vampire smirked, his own eyes narrowing, forming a disturbingly scary expression. "Fooled you~" He seemed to sing. Next I knew, he had run up to me, clutching my shoulders. A sharp pain shot through my neck and chest as his fangs pierced my skin and he did what vampires were known to do, drink the blood of any unfortunate mortal. It only took me a few moments before the entire world faded to black.

I woke up to a black room, illuminated by candle light and the moonlight flooding in through the windows. I wasn't in my own home. It wasn't even dawn. I sat up, taking in the very strange and unfamiliar setting and enjoying the comfortable bed that I had been sleeping in.

The walls of this room were deep red and cracking around the windows, most of which, were not covered by curtains. I soon realised that most of them were open. The opposite side of the room was dark. No candles and each and every window from midway across the room onwards was covered completely in black fabric that draped over poles.

I stood up slowly, making my way over to see what was over there. I picked up a candlestick on a holder from a small desk beside the bed and lit it on one of the flames of those already alight. With a deep breath, I began to walk.

A floorboard creaked every time I took another step, or even moved at all. Wherever I was, it was a really old place.

I got to a point where the room was so dark, I would have been blind without the flame from the candle. However, I soon caught sight of something... rather strange. A small coffin. I jumped back in surprise, almost dropping the candle. I covered my mouth to stop myself from gasping. The coffin lid was pushed open and I saw a pale hand with sharp, black nails grip the side. I was able to see the face of the same vampire that had just bitten me appearing from within the coffin. He pulled on the coffins edges until he sat up completely. It only took a few seconds for him to notice me and when he did, he made the same satanic face as he did previously.

"A rather pleasant experience, don't you think?" He said in a mellow tone.

I looked down at the ground, not knowing what to say. I saw him stand up and step out of the coffin, grabbing my collar and pulling me close to his face.

"They would have known that a being like me still resides in these woods had somebody seen you unconscious like that."

I remained silent. He let me go, but began to speak again,

"So get out and forget about this place. You probably won't remember how to get here once you get back to the village anyway."

He began walking away. I had to say something.

"Are you deaf? GET OUT!"

 _Say something now!_

"Hey!" I saw him begin to walk towards me, angrily, his speed increasing. He held out a hand, preparing to grab me by the neck and choke me.

"Koizumi..." I said.

He stopped in his tracks.

"..." He stayed quiet for a while. "How... do you know my name?" He finally said.

My eyes widened. I had my suspicions, but I guess I had never truly expected to find him. But then what he had just said began to properly sink in. _'He asked how I knew him...'_ My heart sunk. After all these years of trying to rid the world of the demonic vampires to avenge my deceased friend, I find that he has become one... and forgotten all about me.

"Do you remember anything from before you became a vampire?" I asked.

He seemed shocked, though I didn't blame him. I should be meeting his expectations of terrified and running for the hills, but I wasn't. The reason why, simple. Because it was _him_.

"Are you really willing to take the risk of staying any longer?" He chuckled at me, but to his surprise, I just nodded.

"Well..." He began, giving in to the fact that I wasn't afraid, "Of course not. Nothing was there for me before I became a vampire. I was born one."

 _You were not! I had to say something about our past..._

"That isn't true." I announced.

"Care to repeat that?" He asked, sounding calm but beginning to look very angry at me.

"I said that it wasn't true."

He glared at me. "What do you know?"

"A lot more than you think." I decided to stop at that. We were having a conversation. I was talking to him and he was speaking back. That's more than I've been able to do with him for years. Though as horrific I find it that he has become the same as the very thing that once stripped him of his life, I'm very much glad that my best friend was alive.

I'll have to keep him a secret from the village, however it seems like a small task compared to how much effort I put into finding him in the first place.

Then I remembered what Haruhi had told me.

"Whether you find a mangled corpse or a half-buried skeleton, he'll still be dead. No amount of searching will change the fact that he's gone..."

 _You were wrong Haruhi. Oh so wrong. He's here, right in front of me._ I wanted so desperately to run back and tell her, but if she found out about what he had become (which she will if she found out that he was still alive) then she might alert everyone else. That could lead to anything, though a mob is most likely.

I took a deep breath and turned to face the door of the room.

"I'll see you some other time." I smiled back at the now confused vampire. He looked as though he wanted to ask me when I would ever see him again. I guess he doesn't remember that I always remember the path I take. He sighed.

"Hang on." He called.

"Yes?"

"Your blood..." He began. I didn't get it, but I was so relieved by what he said next. "The scent is familiar to me. It doesn't taste half bad either."

And with that, he turned away from me. I assumed it was a silent goodbye, so without another word, I left the room.

The rest of the house was large, but the entranceway was unmissable. I soon found myself outside and back on the path towards the village. I beamed the whole way home, just thinking of how my best friend was still alive. The search had been necessary. I hadn't wasted every moment that I had spent hoping and wandering the twisting pathways of the forest. It had all been for this.

Koizumi Itsuki was still alive.


	3. Offering

A few days passed and the pressure of having to keep my discovery a secret was getting to be a bit too much. My parents and friends all questioned why I suddenly began wearing my collar up (God damn it Koizumi!), but I could never tell them. I just said that I thought it looked better (although I personally think it does anyway) and they stopped asking. Haruhi was asking me about why I hadn't been going to the forest recently. I was being rather stupid about the situation, avoiding going back until I knew exactly what I was going to do about my friend being a vampire, but this allowed Haruhi to get suspicious as she knew how I left the village every night.

That night however, I decided to leave the village once again. It was about time I got over my shock and faced Koizumi. I wanted him to remember me and who he was before the attack, but it seemed so far away from where we were at now. He didn't recall a thing and I was desperate to change that.

Remembering the way around the house that he was currently hiding in was easy. Within minutes, I found myself staring at the large door into the room in which I had woken up in days ago. I took a deep breath in and pushed it open.

I wasn't greeted as I had expected, seeing him surprised and asking why I came back, followed by an evil smirk and a thousand attempts at getting me to leave. I saw only one window open, allowing a cold breeze to blow into the room, and beams of moonlight flooded in through the glass. That's when I saw him. Koizumi was on the bed that I had woken up in last time I was here. From afar, he looked to just be lying still in the peaceful silence of the night, so I approached quietly. The creaks of the floorboards didn't help me in trying to be stealthy.

I got to just beside the bed and placed my bag down on the ground, though despite the creaking, he didn't move. It only took a few seconds to realise that he was sleeping. A sigh escaped my lips as I sat down beside him, looking down upon his figure.

He just lay still, hands on his stomach and face an image of peace. I saw his eyelashes, long and thick for a guy. They had always been like that, but it never bothered him or anybody else. I didn't mind either. But I had never noticed just how thin his lips were until I was able to pay proper attention. The dim blue glow of the moonlight allowed me to see how smooth and flawless his face was, and also brought out his cheekbones, casting a slight shadow just beneath his cheeks. It felt strange, noticing all of these little details about him after all this time, but I was curious as to just how much of his appearance had changed since he became a vampire. The truth is, not much was different. With the exception of eye colour and skin tone, he looked the same as before.

"Who is that?" I heard him mumble.

 _'Did he just wake up? His eyes are still closed, I can't tell.'_

"It's me." I said, smiling.

Koizumi's eyes shot open as he bolted upright, glaring at me.

"I told you that I'd be coming back." Admittedly, I was laughing at this point.

"I didn't believe it." He sneered at me, angrily gritting his teeth so that I could see his fangs. A lot sure had changed about his personality. I find it difficult to believe that this hateful and angry man could possibly be what became of my happy and cheerful best friend. Yet still, I could hardly feel intimidated by him, so I just sat still and didn't say anything back to him.

He suddenly moved, raising a hand to his forehead as he lay back down, taking deep breaths.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked.

He seemed to nod, but I knew that he wasn't. I sat in silence waiting for him to tell me the truth.

"I'm just a little weak." His voice was raspy and it sounded like he was really tired.

"How come?" Just after I asked, I realised. "No blood for a while, eh?"

Koizumi stared at me, weakness and pain in his eyes. I felt kind of bad for him.

"You've done something to me." He whispered. "Since I took your blood the first time, I haven't been able to forget it. The blood from the animals in the forest is even more unbearable and disgusting than before. Of course I killed them before taking it, meaning it wasn't entirely fresh, but now it's even worse. It all tastes like the same old poison in comparison. I've been refusing."

I sighed. He'd been forcing himself to not drink the blood simply because he... preferred mine?

"Well, why don't you take some of it then?" I said to him.

"You're a crazy human being. Why would you willingly give your blood to me?" His eyes narrowed, as if he thought I was mocking him.

"Because you're..." I wanted to say the he was a friend, but he wouldn't accept it. In his mind, we'd never met before a few nights ago. Still, as much as they were different, I personally couldn't believe that I should consider this Koizumi, and the one that was my friend, different people. It didn't feel right. But for the sake of his lost memory, I was forced to go on as if we were never that close. "Because you're in need." I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me, but I could tell that he wanted to agree.

I lowered my head and pulled my collar down, revealing two small marks where he had bitten me before. Pushing down on the bed and holding onto my shoulder for support, Koizumi sat up, leaning in close to my neck. He hesitated, a clear sign to me that he was confused by the fact I was offering.

I grew impatient, preparing for the sharp pain of his fangs as they dug into my neck. The tension was growing with every second he just sat there and thought. I raised my hand to the back of his head and pulled him even closer until I finally felt the searing pain, followed by the faint tickle of blood trickling down my neck.

After a few seconds, I began to feel faint, like I was about to collapse again. But before I did, I felt Koizumi's incredibly sharp fangs leave my neck. I felt another slight tickle, different to the one I feel when droplets of my own blood begin to run down my skin. I glanced over and saw him staying in place, when I realised that he wasn't taking blood out of my body anymore, but was instead taking some from the amount that found its way down, almost to my chest.

I decided that now would be the best time to say something.

"Either you're enjoying that so much you don't want to take it all so quickly, or your tongue's really small." I laughed.

I saw him move back away from my neck and look me in the eye, his own face expressionless and small traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. As if trying to answer my question, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue at me. Well, whatever the reason he licked up the blood in such small quantities, it wasn't the latter of the options suggested.

"Good lord." I said, looking away.

"Well, now you know." He grinned, hiding his tongue in his mouth again.

Suddenly, his facial expression changed. He looked sad again.

"What's wrong now?" I asked him.

Koizumi stared at me and I stared back. For a few seconds, I saw something in his eyes. Myself. But not as I am now. I saw myself as how I was all those years ago, smiling and having fun. That's when I saw _him._ The younger, human Koizumi.

The vision faded and once again, all I could see from him was sadness. He looked up and began to speak to me.

"Why do you treat me like this? Do you actually believe that we're friends or something?"

I thought about my response. I guess no matter how hard I tried, I could never treat him that differently to how I would if he remembered the days before he became what he now is.

I smiled and said what I wanted to say earlier.

"Well, we _are_ friends." I smiled.

He appeared surprised. I wondered what it must feel like. He's been alone for the last three years, having his kind seen by everybody as a dangerous monster, and now somebody that you once targeted is calling you their friend. I guess in his mind, he's never had one before. But in mine, he's the only reason I have friends.

He stared at me for a while before looking down.

"You don't want to be friends with me." He told me.

"What makes you say that?" I smiled.

He pulled the corner of his mouth to the side and showed me his fangs once again.

"And...?" I asked.

"Well, I can't use you as a food source forever. You lose enough blood and you die and if I become your friend then that's most likely what's going to happen to you." He yelled.

"I'm not giving up." I pushed myself to my feet and stood at the side of the bed. "I'll make you rethink your answer. Just wait, soon you'll be agreeing with me." I grinned back at him as I turned and headed for the door, noticing the first rays of sunlight.

As a joke, but also believing the myths about vampires, I looked him dead in the face, seeing hints of sunrise in the window behind him, and I said; "Goodnight." Before leaving the room, leaving the house and returning to my home.

 **A/N: Aye! That whole chapter wasn't a joke, this was serious as much as you may think it is not. I'm actually enjoying writing this ^^ And a massive HELLO to the role player whom of which I told about this fanfic that I was writing and they only went and freaking found it! HIYA!**


	4. Enter-Yuki Nagato

I got back to the church early in the morning, before the rest of the village had woken up. Or so I thought.

Quietly stepping in and placing my bag down on the ground, I tried to get through the hall and actual church room before I went upstairs to my room (well in a small village with very few houses, what else were we to do? One building was enough for one family).

"You're acting strangely..." I heard a voice say to me as I went through the door the stairs. I turned around to see Haruhi standing there.

"Haruhi... What are you doing here?" I asked, trying not to yell.

"I'm curious about something..." She leant in closer, her face now very close to mine. "Did anything happen last time you went out to search the woods?"

"Nothing at all. I already told you." I sighed.

"Well, I don't believe you. You've never gone a single day without going out there to search and then suddenly you take a little break from it." Haruhi didn't seem to mind speaking loudly when my family were still asleep... or possibly when they're all waking up and I risk them hearing all of this!

"Look Haruhi, I just needed a break from searching every night." I smiled and tried to speak in a tone that she'd believe. She didn't...

"Kyon, I really don't believe you. Now tell me what happened!"

"Nothing happened!"

"Did you see something? Did you lose something? Were you frightened away?"

"Haruhi!"

"Or did you find the vampire that attacked us three years ago?"

I glanced at her. She looked serious, as if questioning somebody after they'd stolen something. There was no shutting her up until I said something that she believed, but she probably wouldn't believe me if I told her the truth anyway. I guess I could only think of lying to her.

"Haruhi... admittedly, I was spooked by something last time I was there." I lied. She seemed to believe it though. "You see, I wasn't expecting to find anything, but I began hearing noises. I guess they must have been animals, but at the time I didn't know what to think they were. After I got back, I thought I'd just avoid the forest for a while until I figured out what it might have been."

Haruhi was silent for a bit.

"Okay." She finally said, grinning and turning away. "So what if you got scared, that vampire was dangerous. But you should have known that what you were hearing was just a couple of woodland creatures. After all, nobody has seen or heard anything from within or beyond the forest since that night."

"I know. I guess I was having a weird night."

"Of course you were Kyon..." She suddenly went silent again.

"Something wrong?"

"Remember what I told you... that you shouldn't blind yourself with the hope that you'll find Koizumi alive." She sounded genuinely worried about me, but I couldn't help but find it funny. I already had.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I know not to." I smiled, giving her the reassurance that she needed.

"That's not to say that you can't look for proof though."

"I know. Anyway Haruhi, don't you think you should be heading home now?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe, but do I have to?"

"Yes." I sighed once again.

"Okay fine! I'll go." She walked towards the door, looking back at me with a smile as she left.

I stood still and thought for a moment before going back upstairs. I thought about how Haruhi had sounded so scared when she told me about blinding myself with a false belief. It almost made me feel bad for keeping this from her, but I made a promise. Having her not know would be better than having to face the possibility of us losing Koizumi again. She was torn apart, and so was I, but sharing this would put us all through that pain once again. I couldn't do that to myself or Haruhi.

I heard my parents doors open as they came over and knocked on mine to get me up and out of bed. After hearing my sister calling to me from the other side of the door, I decided it definitely best to get up and do as they said.

Once breakfast and a quick prayer (which I would have rather missed out on), I decided to go out and just wander around the small area that was my village home.

I got through the door and the first thing that I laid eyes on was the water well in the centre. It was either at the well or in the farm animals pen that I would greet Koizumi every morning. I kinda missed it. I probably wouldn't be able to look at those areas had I not finally found him.

"Hey! Stay still you silly thing!" I heard a females voice. _Sigh... Haruhi._

She'd volunteered to help out in taking care of the animals now that the farmboy was no longer here... but she struggles with them.

"Hmph! I swear these animals hate me! Why don't they listen?!" She yelled, attempting to gently kick away two pigs at her feet as she tried to put their food out for them.

I laughed a little, but decided to swiftly move on. I'd heard enough of Haruhi's lectures recently.

I was suddenly surrounded by a dark presence that I could only describe as a like a heavy weight landing upon my shoulders. The kind of aura that would make any sane person begin to feel frightened. I looked to the left and saw her out of the corner of my eye. She who was strange and nobody seemed to understand but a select few of us. The girl who writes and reads whilst working in the carpentry house all day. Yuki Nagato. A girl obsessed with anything considered strange.

I sighed, smiling.

"Hey Nagato."

She looked up at me, expressionless like she always looks.

"Hello..."

She didn't say anything else.

"So, what's up?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Nothing, though I was curious about something." She said.

"About what?"

"Haruhi Suzumiya has been rather distressed and came to speak to me a few days ago. She claimed that she suspects that you found something related to the events of three years ago whilst near the forest a few nights ago."

"D-did she tell you anything else?" I asked, beginning to panic that Haruhi had told her about the real reason I went to the forest every night... Wait, she said near. I guess she hadn't, but still best to check.

"Nothing more."

"Look Nagato, I decided to try and look around, but I got spooked by something that I heard. Probably just animals, but I've not seen anything since then. Who knows, that creature may have gone somewhere else by now." I shrugged.

"I see..."

Nagato was never a loud or talkative person. I'd kind of gotten used to it by now.

"That is all I wanted to know." She turned and began to walk away.

Strange encounters with Nagato were honestly common here. She would never say much, but if she did it was always so confusing. Despite that, I got what she said. Poor girl. Nagato always wanted to help someone in some way, but her means of doing so were often misunderstood by how she speaks and her use of long explanations.

I suddenly smelt something delicious. The scent of baked goods filled the air around me. I smiled, glancing over at the bakery and seeing smoke coming from the chimney. I walked towards the small building and walked inside.


	5. Mikuru Asahina-Baker of the century

As I pushed the door open, it freaked loudly, alerting those inside that somebody was there.

"Hello?" I called.

"Oh hello there." I heard her say to me as she appeared in the room. Mikuru Asahina, the best bread maker the village had ever had, greeted me with a bright smile. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine." Miss Asahina was a good friend of mine. Truth is, I'd known her forever, but she'd always seemed so shy that I never really spoke to her. Haruhi dragged her to the church one day and introduced us. Since then, Miss Asahina and I have been pretty close.

And then there's another amazing perk...

"Hold on, I have something for you to try."

Free samples made by herself.

I lived for her baked goods. The village may be small and have few resources, but she always made what we had beautiful.

"Here you go." She smiled, producing a small loaf of bread from a small shelf above the fire. "Try this." She handed me a small piece that she had broken off. I gladly accepted and took a small bite. Delicious as always.

"Wow Miss Asahina. It's really good!" I smiled at her.

Her face lit up. "So you think I should begin selling that type of bread too?" She asked.

"Yeah. Go ahead." I pulled out a gold piece from my pocket and handed it to her. "The usual please."

She nodded and disappeared down behind the wooden slab of a counter and stood back us with a small cloth and a few bread loaves and began to wrap them up.

"Thank you." She smiled, handing them to me.

"No problem." I turned and began to leave.

"Kyon." She said to me.

"Yeah?" I turned back to her.

"Why did you start wearing your collar up like that?"

So people are still wondering? "Just because I thought it looked better."

I could never tell her about the bite... or who had caused it.

"It does. But... I was just wondering. It's fine." She beamed.

I nodded and left, slightly worried.

So the fact that I'd changed how I wear my collar hadn't blown over yet. Damnit Koizumi! Oh well. I guess it can't be helped.

I suddenly began to question whether or not I should actually go and see him tonight. 'It can't hurt...' I told myself. But then I began to think otherwise, 'well, it will if he bites me again. Soon just your collar won't be able to hide the damage he's caused.'

Yup. Part of me is really pissed off at Koizumi for biting me, but the other part of me tells me that blaming him for a bite is like blaming him for being bitten. He can't help it... I guess.

With a sigh, I opened the door to the church and made my way towards and then up the stairs. I did my best to ignore my sister and parents as I headed towards my room, trying to make my mind up about what I was to do tonight.

But at the time, I guess I didn't realise that it needn't have bothered.


	6. Midnight Attack

I had just finished cleaning up around the church after a long day. Hoisting my bag onto my shoulder, I checked to see if anyone was following me, before I opened the doors and stepped out into the quiet night. Before I got to the edge of the village near the forest, I heard a yell from behind me.

"Help! HELP!" It was a females voice. I turned to see one of the villages people running towards me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's the... The..." She seemed so worked up, she could barely breath. Being the only one that she seemed to be able to speak to at the time, I tried to calm her down the best I could.

"Now, miss I need you to calm down and tell me what happened."

"It's the... THE VAMPIRE!" She finally yelled.

I stood shocked. What was going on? Had the vampire from three years ago come back? Or worse...

I heard a scream from the village and as I looked, I saw Miss Asahina sprinting out of her small house. She seemed to notice me and run in my direction, arms flailing and eyes watering.

"He's here..." She whined as she got closer.

Suddenly, shrieks and screams filled the area, I could feel my pulse quickening and my heart was beating much harder in my chest.

That's when, in the dim rays of moonlight, I finally caught sight of him. Koizumi stood, on the rooftop of one of the houses closest to the church.

'Oh God... what is he doing?'

I ran towards the building to check on the people inside, Miss Asahina yelling at me to stop. I had to make sure the villagers were alright.

I opened the door with the most forceful push I could. As I did, I saw an elderly woman, sitting down in a ball in the corner, by a fireplace. I rushed over.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. She recognised me and seemed to calm down.

"H-h... He is..." She raised a shaky finger up towards the ceiling.

"I know. I promise, I'll protect this village." And with that, I ran back outside and looked around for him. Whatever he was doing, it wasn't good.

I heard a cry from behind me. Turning around as fast as I could, I saw Haruhi, backing away from something. I'd found him. Koizumi was going after Haruhi!

'Why is this happening? Why is he doing this?'

"HEY!"

That's when he noticed me. Koizumi turned to face me slowly, anger shown clearly on his face, but when he saw me, he seemed to calm down. Edging closer, I noticed something off… his eyes. His entire eye (white parts included) had gone black, a small white dot in the centre, taking the place of his pupil.

I stepped back in fear, snapping a twig beneath my feet as I did so. The snap brought us both back to reality. By now, Haruhi had gone, presumable ran inside somewhere. I thought that I could try and talk to him now that she was gone, but he sprinted forwards, towards me.

Koizumi stopped as he got to me and leant in to my neck… no. My ear.

"Look at what you've done… I need more..." He whispered.

So this was suddenly my fault? But I guess it wasn't his either.

I thought back to the villagers and remembered how strange it would look if I just spoke to him and he left. They'd know that something was up.

I grasped his arm and backed off slightly, keeping a tight grip on him. He seemed confused at first, but I couldn't risk anybody else getting seriously hurt. If I was to do anything, it'd be to at least chase him back into the forest.

Koizumi looked from his arm to me a couple of times before I finally made another move. I twisted him around, pulling his arm behind his back. He winced slightly, his angry expression returning to his face. As I began to push him to the edge of the village, he began struggling to get free of my grip. I almost let go a few times before he pulled once more, this time with a lot more force. I heard a slight click, presumable from his arm as he stopped trying to get free after that. I guessed that he'd hurt himself slightly.

We rushed from the village and into the woods. I let go of him when I felt we were far enough away. As I though he would, he just stood and stared at me.

"Koizumi, what the hell were you thinking?" I breathed heavily in slight exhaustion.

"I told you. Now that you've let me enjoy human blood more than once, I need more and more and even more after that." He sounded insane as he spoke. He broke into hysterical laughter every once in a while.

I was getting tired of him acting this way, so I did what I knew I had to; smack him in the face, push him to the ground and force my wrist in his mouth to bite.

And boy, he bit down hard on my arm. I felt the blood trickle down my hand and to the ends of my fingers.

Once he had calmed down, I noticed that he wasn't being so forceful. Koizumi finally let my arm go and he just lay still with his eyes closed.

"Hey..." I shook him slightly.

He stirred, eyes opening very slowly, revealing deep red eyes. His red, vampire eyes that I'd found him with. I sighed in relief.

'He's calmed down a little' I thought to myself.

"I'm so sorry..." He said to me.

He spoke softly. The way he addressed me made me sad and I began to feel bad. It reminded me of how softly he spoke when he was still a normal human. I just stared at him. He stared back with the saddest expression I'd ever seen on him.

After a few seconds of absolute silence, I let go of him and let him sit up.

"Sorry about your arm." I said, looking for something to break the silence.

"Oh, right. Don't worry. It doesn't hurt anymore." Koizumi looked down at his arm as he spoke. Damn, he sounded so sad. I couldn't help but feel bad.

"That's good." I didn't know what else to say. I mean, what was I supposed to say?

"They'll come and look for you." He suddenly said.

"What?"

"The villagers. Almost everybody was there to see you force me back into the forest. If you don't go back soon, they'll get worried and come after you."

"Oh right. Good call." I stood up and held my arm out to help him up. With that same gloomy look on his face, Koizumi pushed my hand away and stood up himself.

"I'll be heading back now." He began to walk deeper into the forest, towards his abandoned building of a home.

"Hold on Koizumi..." Calling out to him, I thought of how to phrase what I wanted to say.

He stopped and turned to face me.

"If you… well I…" I couldn't seem to word it right.

A slight orange light came over the trees behind me. Morning already? As the dim glow travelled across the floor, Koizumi began to edge backwards away from it.

'Oh crap...'

It got to his feet before he turned and began running, not giving me a second glance.

"Koizumi, wait!" I called out again. He didn't stop and soon, I could no longer see him.

My feet seemed to move on their own, forcing me to turn around and head back to the village... I wanted nothing more than to avoid the villagers, but I couldn't. I knew what that would lead to.

I dragged my feet every step of the way, but I soon found myself back at the village. Everybody was in the centre, anxiously chatting to one another.

Haruhi spotted me coming and began to run towards me.

"Did you kill him?" Was her first question.

"No..."

"Why not?"

"He got away before I could."

Haruhi sighed, looking down. "Damn him! Good job getting him away though."

With that, she returned to the others and she began to comfort the little girl that had first warned me of what was happening. I followed her, looking around at everyone. Luckily, nobody seemed to want to question me on how I could 'tame' a vampire.

'Don't worry Koizumi. You're safe as long as nobody finds out.'

It felt weird thinking that... oddly.


	7. Troubled Thoughts Part I

Since the attack, the village has been quiet. Miss Asahina can only just cope after being so scared, Nagato is… actually no different and Haruhi's hardly said anything to me either.

I've been surrounded by a very chilling atmosphere since that night. I thought it had something to do with what Haruhi had said.

 _'Did you kill him?'_ She had asked me. It made me wonder if what I was doing and how I was handling the situation was less beneficial than I had originally thought. Maybe it was more selfish than anything. She was thinking of the village. I wasn't considering their safety as much as she was. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't even begin to think that the only way to protect all those people would be to...

Kill Koizumi...

No! I couldn't do that.

Haruhi wouldn't want me to if she knew who it was, but I know that most others would be harder to convince. As nice and helpful as he was, back when he was the farmboy for the village, many people misunderstood Koizumi. Honestly, for a while, I did too. He was the strange type of person that people would usually not pay much attention to, the kind to be slightly annoying when you did get to know him, but a nice guy that's easy to like if they knew him like I did.

I still consider him the same now, but it doesn't change the fact that he is a vampire now. That fact alone would be enough to make the villagers change any positive opinion they had of him back then to one of pure negativity.

That thought was enough to snap me back into reality and realise that what I'd been doing up to that point was the right thing. Had I not been able to calm him down, God knows what he would have done. But what if I'd not let him have human blood in the first place? He couldn't have survived on animal blood forever. Eventually, he wouldn't be able to take it and he'd stop until he had no fuel to keep him going. He'd just... die, I guess. And where would that leave me? Searching every night and finding nothing, for he would truly be dead. Eventually, I would break my promise to Haruhi. I'd be blinded by false hope and I'd go crazy.

But what's done is done. There no way of changing anything now.

Even as I slowly creep towards the old building in the forest, moon casting a dim, blue light over the forest path, I thought that no matter what I do now, keeping him and his whereabouts a secret was the only option to have a positive outcome.

The only others would lead to so much more bloodshed and losses.

I got to the building and was just about to push open the door when I heard something. A voice. _His_ voice. It was coming from around the corner. I followed the noise, stepping over stones and avoiding leaves to stop myself making any noise.

As I got to the corner, I pushed my back against the wall, turning my head to the side to catch a glimpse of what was going on, but to also avoid Koizumi seeing me just yet.

He was there, perched on a tall rock, back facing me. Seeing that he couldn't see me, I stepped out from my place behind the wall and just stood, watching him, listening to his voice. He was humming something.

The melody was beautiful, though it was a tune that I'd never heard of before. How come it sounded so sad...? Was he still feeling bad? Why is he so damn complicated?

I let these thoughts fly around in my head for a little while, but I soon stopped worrying. The song that I was hearing calmed me. I closed my eyes, a vision forming in my head as I did so. A vision of myself… back home. In the village… Koizumi at my side. He was once again, the farmboy. We were smiling, laughing. Haruhi, Miss Asahina and Nagato all appeared around us. They were all smiling too, including Nagato. She's not necessarily known for her smile.

I found myself almost lost in the vision, thinking of how brilliant it would be if that was how we were now. It all seemed so real, but was, of course, never going to happen.

The image in my head suddenly disappeared and I realised that Koizumi had stopped humming. My eyes opened and I saw him, still sat on the tall rock. He still had his back to me, but he was looking over his shoulder, right at me. He seemed to be glaring at me, eyes half open, brown furrowed and pouting.

"Hey." I said.

He sighed at me and turned back around. Without facing me, he began to speak in a low, mellow tone.

"How long have you been there?"

"Not very long." I began approaching him. "But that song was beautiful. Where'd you hear it?

He didn't respond.

"What's it called?" I asked.

Koizumi stood up and turned to face me. "I don't know."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"I don't know. I was making it up as I went along." I wondered how he could be so monotonous.

"It sounded great." I smiled.

"What are you doing here?" He sighed.

"I came to see you."

"I know, but why do you insist on visiting me?"

"Because... we're friends." God that sounded weird coming from my mouth.

"Sounds to me like you don't know the danger that you put yourself in by coming here."

That caught me quite off guard.

"You're not… dangerous."

Koizumi raised an eyebrow at me. "Have you forgotten what I did yesterday?"

"No."

"Then how can you say that I'm not a danger to anyone?"

"I'm not sure. I just know."

***TBC***


	8. Troubled Thoughts Part II

He looked at me with a very confused expression. I laughed, seeing him so clueless.

"Don't laugh at me." He sneered. "You can't blame me for being confused."

"No, I admit, I can't. But that face is unlike anything I've ever seen on you before."

"You've only seen me a few times."

 _Oh yeah..._ "E-exactly!"

"You're… very strange." He smiled, slightly.

Somehow, seeing a smile on him gave me a nice feeling. Koizumi had become such an angry guy, that seeing even the faintest smile was a rarity. It made me miss his old smile that little bit more. I felt like I should have appreciated his happiness and not seen it as a bad thing on all the occasions I saw him as an annoying faker.

"You're staring at me." He said, going back to his mellow tone.

"Oh... I was. Sorry." I looked away, quite embarrassed.

"Anyway… you need to stop coming here."

"What?!"

"Stop coming to see me. As I told you before, I'm currently just using you as a food source. If I keep doing that, you'll surely be killed eventually."

"True, but I'll still come by, even if I know that."

Koizumi seemed to get angry at me. Very angry. He stepped closer until he was right in my face, looking down _on_ me. I felt almost frightened at his rage and the dark pressure that I felt surrounding me.

"Leave right now or I will bite you again." He threatened me.

"No chance."

"WHY?!" He yelled in my face.

I couldn't think of a good enough reason that he'd understand… I was getting seriously close to telling him about everything that he'd forgotten.

"WHY?!" He yelled again.

"..." I stayed silent.

"AMSWER ME!"

"Because I don't want to lose you again..."

He glared at me, angrily, before his expression of rage changed to one of confusion. I had to explain or come up with some sort of lie.

Before I could say anything, he decided to speak. "I've always been here. In this building, in this forest."

"How much do you remember?" I asked, hoping that he would realise what I was talking about.

"Of what?"

"Your whole life."

"… Well I'm quite forgetful..."

"How much?"

"Three years."

Without realising it, I began to smile. He hadn't been able to remember events since the night he became who he is now. The night he was bitten and his body disappeared.

"So... What's your earliest memory?"

"What business do you have knowing?"

"I need to know."

Koizumi seemed to think very hard to remember. I thought he was lying, but maybe he was really forgetful... no way.

"Waking up..." He finally muttered. "Three years ago… in this very spot." He tapped his foot on the ground.

"And you had no idea how you got here?" I assumed.

"No, I didn't. I didn't remember anything other than my name and the fact that I was a vampire. After exploring a little bit, I found the village, but was warned to stay away."

Suddenly, I was hit by a wave of confusion. "Who… warned you?"

"An old vampire, coming to the end of his time. He had been hiding in the same forest for many hundreds of years. He told me that the villagers were anything but accepting of our kind."

"..." So the one that had bitten him had told him to stay away from his own home. _'Bastard'_ I grew angrier at this monster, this fiend who had lied to my friend after being the one to kill him in the first place.

"He later passed on..." Koizumi continued. "And I became the last of my kind. It's not necessarily sad to me, but I felt pressured to survive and even had the urge to turn some of the villagers… though for some reason, that last idea seemed wrong and unfair." - _I think I might know why_ \- "That's why I haven't turned you."

So he's the last of his kind.

"Look..." I began. "I'm fine with coming back-"

"What do you mean by 'lose me again'?"

It suddenly felt like somebody had slapped me in the face as my head lowered. For some reason, I didn't feel like I could look at him.

How wrong it would be if I lied now, but he'd call me crazy if I told him the truth. He may even think that I was lying. The thought of him doubting my honesty as I explained _his death_ was quite painful.

I had to draw the line on this pathetic behaviour. It wasn't like me to just mope around and not do anything about something that troubled me. I'd spent years searching for Koizumi, I'd given him my blood on many occasions, yet I couldn't tell him the truth?

'Damn!'

"The you that I remember isn't the you that you are now."

"What are you talking about?"

Feeling tired of looking away, I looked back up at him. Seeing the expression that he had took me by surprise. He didn't look angry or confused. He looked sad. I honestly didn't see a reason for this and therefore thought that he wasn't trying to look that way. He probably didn't feel very down.

I continued, "You see, when I first met you, you were… human."

Koizumi's face changed once again. Now he seemed more shocked than anything, though that didn't surprise me.

"You lived in the village, just opposite the church where I work and stay. We met properly for the first time when I saw you with Haruhi Suzumiya. She was known as the eccentric girl and you seemed pretty worn out as she left, so I came to chat about how it must be just a little tough being friends with her. Do you remember what you said next?"

He stared at me, one eyebrow raised. He appeared deep in thought, as if he was trying to remember something, but may have just been thinking about ways to tell me that I was insane. I sighed.

"You said that you didn't mind because you found her to-"

"Wait..."

There was a few seconds of silence between us, but what he said next made me beyond happy.

"Miss Suzumiya... is a very charming person, so I don't mind such treatment from her..."

My eyes widened and my mouth curved into a smile. "That's exactly what you said back then!"

He smiled at me, but only for a few seconds before he walked past me.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"It's getting cold outside, so I'm going in..." He paused. "... You're welcome to come too."

I sighed, smiling. If I could get through to him like I just did, I could tell him everything and if I'm lucky, he might even remember everything. Who he was, who I am and how he became who he is now.

"Hey, if you're coming, hurry up. You've got a story to tell."

I rushed over and followed him inside the old building that I'd become so used to by now.


	9. Memories return

Koizumi sat down on a very old chair in a small room to the side of the entrance hall, gesturing to a stool opposite him, which I then sat on, facing him.

"So, continue on with your story." He said.

I nodded slightly and continued speaking. "Well, we began speaking that day and I guess we got along pretty well. You became my friend and eventually my best friend."

"...What was I like?"

"You were nice. A good and very polite person. People respected you and you did a great job providing for them."

"Providing?"

"You were the farmboy."

"Glamorous." He mumbled with very obvious sarcasm.

"Haha. Well even though you spent your days with the animals, you never looked like it and you always seemed to enjoy your job. Anyway, three years ago, our village was attacked by the vampire that told you to stay away. He got to you and turned you into what you are now. Everyone thought you were dead… including me." I sighed slightly, thinking back to the events of that night.

The look of fear in my best friends eyes, the hatred that I developed for vampires after what that one did.

"So he told me to stay away from my own home?" Koizumi stared at me with a confused expression, trying desperately to take in everything that I was saying. "Though he was the one that turned me into a vampire…?"

"Yeah. That's right."

"I don't… I can't believe…"

"I know, I get it, it's probably really hard for you to understand. When the vampire apparently ran away, everybody wanted to give the ones we lost a proper burial. I didn't want to let go of you, but I was pulled away from your body and they took you to just behind the church where you were going to be buried. Everyone took the chance to mourn before the actual burials and ceremonies took place that night, but when we returned, your body wasn't there."

"I don't remember running from the village to the forest..." He admitted.

"Maybe the vampire that bit you brought you out here..."

"That seems to be the only explanation. Anyway, carry on."

"Oh right." I continued. "Since then, I had hope that you were alive somewhere, in or beyond the forest. I'd search every night for you or the monster that attacked us until the night that I found you. I thought you were the same one from that night, which is why I jumped out at you. When I realised who you were I-"

Koizumi held up his hand to stop me from talking. He'd rested his elbow on his knee and his head in his palm. He inhaled slowly and let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry." I said to him.

"Don't be." I heard him whisper, followed by silence from the both of us. The only noise he was making was through heavy breathing.

' _Great, I've stressed him out...'_

"So that's my past? That's who I was? A little farmboy for a village like that."

"Yeah. That's who you were." I sighed slightly.

There was once again silence until he spoke once again.

"I remember a girl." He muttered.

"Huh?"

"I remember a girl. Her hair and eyes, both dark brown. Yellow ribbons... she wore yellow ribbons."

"That's Haruhi!" I grinned.

"Haruhi… Suzumiya."

"YES!"

He smiled at me again, standing up. I watched him as he began to pace around the room.

"Nothing else is coming to me though." He admitted.

"Well... Honestly, I didn't know that much about your life before that. Your family situation was a mystery to everybody. You were pretty secretive about your past, but told me about things happening at the time. Nothing really beforehand."

"I see... So as much as you may have known me... I was still a mystery to you."

"I guess you could say that."

'Maybe if I tell him about...' I thought. I remembered something that was the start of all kinds of conversations all those years ago. Maybe it was harsh to remind him, but maybe it was the right thing to do...

"Something that did bother you a lot though..." I began. He stopped pacing and sat back down on his chair. "...Was this forest. Mainly how you never knew what sorts of things lived within it. It's kinda funny to think that you'd end up living here."

"I suppose so. To add to the humour, my interest now lies beyond it." Koizumi smiled. For a second, I saw the same kindness and happiness that I used to see from his smiles. I looked down at the ground in slight sorrow.

"Is something bothering you?"

"I uh... I kinda miss those days. All those times when we would just hang out and talk, you know?"

"... I trust you." He said to me. I looked up at him, a slight smile on my face, but when I saw him, I felt shocked. Koizumi was staring straight down, apparently thinking.

"I have put... an immense amount of trust in you... and I would be lying if I said that I had made a mistake."

There was silence between us as I realised that he had said that to me before too. Could be actually be remembering his past?

"It's how I felt then and its is I feel now… and for everything that you've done for me, I must thank you."

"Why? I've hardly done anything." I chuckled.

"Hardly anything? That isn't true at all. You spared my life when we met in the forest, you kept me a secret from people that would want to do me harm, you've given me your blood and you've told me the secrets of my past. How is that hardly anything?"

He had a point. "Yeah. You're right. Well, it's no big deal. We got along then and we can get along now, so I'll do you these favours."

"And yet I have done nothing but cause you trouble." Koizumi sounded rather upset as he spoke... Well, I guess he would be. He's slowly remembering his past and I can only hope that it won't be long before he remembers me.

"No." I said, standing up. I began to walk towards the door, seeing a slight ray of sun through the window.

"What could I have possibly done for you?"

"...

You didn't die." I replied, before leaving the room.


	10. The Last Sunset

I arrived back at the village later than expected... to my ultimate dismay.

As I stepped off the forest path and onto the hard rock or the village, I slowed down as I saw the crowd of people standing around the entrance to the forest.

Within the crowd, I could make out my family, Miss Asahina, Nagato and Haruhi... and almost all of the other villagers.

"So… care to explain?" My father stood in front of me, frowning.

I couldn't believe it. How had they all found out? I glanced over at Haruhi, who saw me looking and shook her head, telling me that she hadn't said anything.

"They… they saw you leave." She muttered.

"Who did?"

"I did." From the crowd, I saw the face of a young girl appear. I recognised her as the girl who had alerted me of the attack three years ago. She appeared to glare at me.

My father sighed and took a few steps towards me. "Never mind explaining. I think I know what's going on." His voice lowered in anger as he reached towards the collar of my shirt and pulled it down, revealing the bite marks on my neck.

I heard gasps and yells from the crowd. Haruhi looked away from me, either in disappointment or sadness. As if I'd let her down.

Miss Asahina grew pale as she looked at me with her eyes wide.

Nagato approached me and inspected the bites before turning back to the others and announcing, "These are the teeth marks of a vampire, however it is not the same vampire that made the first attack. There is a possibility of it being the marks of the attacker from a few nights back, however that being claimed no victims, so we do not have a comparison."

 _Nagato..._

"This is the last straw!" I heard somebody shout. "No more hiding in fear! We must attack before we are all killed!"

 _'What...?'_

How had it come to this...?

I locked myself in my room after that. I sat on my bed thinking about what things had come to, worried about the fate of my friend. Were they going to pull this off?

Haruhi came to see me later that day. She seemed rather upset.

"Go on, scold me." I sighed.

"No. I won't." She said back. "What happened exactly? How did you get those bites? Please tell me that it wasn't an actual vampire."

"It was, okay? Nagato wasn't lying, she was right."

"Was it the one that ki-"

"SHUT UP!" I stood up, yelling. Worry, fear and anger for myself all built up inside me. I couldn't help my outburst, after all, this was all happening because of me.

"Why? Are you still not over it?!"

"That's not it! You have no idea what's been going on recently Haruhi!"

"Then tell me. That's the only reason I'm mad at you. I was the only one to know about where you went each night, and yet you couldn't tell me about what you found?!"

"Koizumi's alive."

"..." Haruhi stayed silent, processing what I had just told her. "That's not possible."

"No, Haruhi. It's completely possible."

"And how do you know?" She folded her arms, leaning against the door frame and frowning at me.

"I found him."

Haruhi's eyes widened in shock, but not as I might have hoped. After a few seconds of silence, she said, "I told you that you'd blind yourself like that. Blind yourself with false hope."

"Damnit Haruhi! I haven't blinded myself with false hope at all. I'm being serious."

"Wake up Kyon, he's dead! He died in _your_ arms!"

I grew even angrier. Why couldn't she believe me? Why won't she realise that I'm not fooling myself? Haruhi just stood there, a worried expression appearing on her face.

"And another thing..."

"What?" I snapped back at her.

"I saw how you reacted when the villagers said that they wanted to fight back..."-suddenly I knew exactly where she was going with this-"Why are you so worried about it?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt." I told her. Technically I wasn't lying.

"You're acting very strange Kyon..."

"Am not!"

Haruhi sighed. "Well if you want to stop them then you'd better hurry up." I saw her glance over my shoulder at the window behind me. I turned and stared out into the village centre, where almost everybody gathered, holding their sharpest objects, wooden stakes and torches.

The usually quiet and peaceful sunset in the village was replaced by an air of absolute chaos. How could I have let this happen? They really were planning to attack!

"Well, I gotta get going." Haruhi rushed for the door.

"Where?" I called after her.

"..." She turned around quickly and stared at me for a bit before producing a shiny blade from a small bag.

"You're going with them?!" I yelled.

"Yeah..." She seemed upset. "I'm sorry Kyon." And with that, she turned and left.

My god. Everything was just piling up... I couldn't let this happen. After a few minutes of me standing alone in my room, I ran out into the village centre, where the sun had set and the villagers were heading into the forest. Running as fast as I could, I stood between them and the forest entrance.

"Stop! Don't do this!" I yelled.

I heard murmuring from the crowd as confusion built between everyone.

"Stop this Kyon! Move!" Haruhi called from the group.

"Shut up Haruhi!" I could not believe that I had just said that...

She looked at me with such anger and shock.

"Move!" I heard voices shout at me.

When I refused, they grew impatient. As they grew even more angry with my lack of cooperation, I noticed some of them beginning to move towards me, angry looks on their faces. I was shoved from side to side as people began to barge and run past. Soon the entire crowd were approaching me, shoving and pushing until I lost my balance and fell... that's when I noticed _him_...

A faint shadow caught my eye and I instantly knew who it was. It was getting closer until I could see his face. Koizumi glanced around at everyone, confused.

"THERE IT IS!" I heard someone scream. Everybody raised weapons and torches and began to run after him.

"KOIZUMI, RUN!" I yelled after him.

He then seemed to realise what was going on. His face went from a look of confusion to one of fear as he turned and began to run.

I stood back up and began to follow him, until I was stopped by somebody pulling at my sleeve. I turned around. It was Nagato.

" Itsuki Koizumi... is that vampire." She muttered.

I nodded slowly. She let go, nodding back.

"Do you understand now Nagato? Why I wanted to stop them?"

"Yes... You should stop them."

"That's the plan." I smiled at her before turning back to the others.

The villagers had all split up in order to trap him and finally kill him. It wasn't long before I found Haruhi. I ran faster so that I could run alongside her.

As I grew nearer, I saw that she had her blade in hand, aiming to throw it ahead of her. That's when I noticed my vampire friend a few feet ahead of her.

"Haruhi!" I called.

Ignoring my shouting, she drew to a sudden halt and threw the knife...

It didn't land where she may have perhaps wanted it to. Instead of striking a vital part, the blade wound up piercing Koizumi's shoe and stabbing his foot.

I heard him groan slightly as he slowed down, pulling the blade from his foot and turning to look at his attacker. He appeared to say something, but he was too quiet for me to hear. Once he had done so, Haruhi gasped and froze.

I saw pain in his eyes as he turned and attempted to continue running, even with a very much injured foot.

I stopped beside Haruhi and looked at her face. She was pale, her eyes wide.

"He called me..." She began. "Miss Suzumiya... and the look in his eyes..."

There was silence between us for a little while before she looked at me with guilt in her eyes.

"Koizumi?"

I nodded. She let out a few shaky breathes before turning back to the village and whispering to me. "Find him..." She then walked off.

I didn't hesitate to carry on running. By now, I could no longer see him in front of me, but I knew I had to find him...

I wound up out of breath in a clearing in the forest, far away from the village of any of its people, but there was still no sign of Koizumi.

I heard rustling from behind me. I spun round to see who or what it was... I only wish I hadn't.

There, standing in front of me, was a blood-covered Koizumi.

He had his hand over his chest, covering a very large wound. He was bleeding from his forehead and had multiple cuts up his arms.

My mouth hung open at the sight of him.

"They... They found me." He showed a weak smile and slight laugh before falling forwards, wincing in pain. I ran forwards to catch him...

"Hey!" I yelled. "Hey, can you hear me?"

He didn't respond to me. He lay still in my arms, shaking... and his eyes half open. It all came back to me then. The sight of my friend dying in my arms came back to haunt me like I thought it never would since I found him alive.

"HEY!" I yelled a little louder.

At that moment, I felt tears fall down my face. ' _I WON'T let this happen again!'_ I shut my eyes tightly, trying to hold back my cries.

I suddenly felt cold hands on each of my cheeks. I opened my eyes slowly and looked down at his now smiling face.

"Koizumi..." I whispered.

"Thank you..." He closed his eyes, slowly, eyelids fluttering slightly. "For coming back for me..." When he opened his eyes once again, I was surprised. I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or if it was all real... his eyes weren't red anymore. But they had instead taken on the colour that they were before he changed... Suddenly I saw the human Koizumi staring up at me, despite the fangs.

His hands began to lower, smearing a little bit of blood on my face. I began to panic... He wasn't going to die again! I wouldn't let that ha-

"Kyon..." He said in a raspy voice.

It was the first time he'd called me that since he had changed. Mainly because even after so long I still... hadn't told him my name...

As if the pain of my friend being close to death couldn't get any worse, I suddenly realised that he must've remembered everything. Who he was... who I am... and suddenly, I heard nothing.

I could no longer hear his quiet voice or shaky breaths. He lay still in my arms, eyes closed, completely limp.

"NO!" I yelled, tears falling from my eyes again. "YOU CAN'T GO! NOT AGAIN!"

I got no response from him. Once again, he'd slipped away... and I knew that there was no chance of him coming back this time.

The sadness and anger built up inside me, the same way that it did all those years ago. I couldn't hold onto it. Letting my tears flow, I threw my head back, and screamed in sorrow... My reality crashing down... My friend... leaving me once and for all...

-End-

A/N: Well, that's the end. I really hope you enjoyed reading it.

Yes, sadness was what I was looking for in this fic. And well, I wanted something that could possibly change the way one character feels about another. Like how in this one, Kyon finds out how good of a friend Koizumi really is.

Sorry if I upset anyone ^^" But if you cried then I guess I got the theme right.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, please tell me what you think :)

Thanks for reading ^^


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